A simple python script that extracts text messages from an iPhone backup database.
Backup your iPhone using iTunes (make sure that the backup is not encrypted).
Then run the script, specifying the location of the backup database: python iphone-sms-extract.py --backupdirectory
On OS/X the backups are located in: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSyc/Backup while on Windows the directory is: %APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup
The result will be a json-file, sorted by conversations, formatted like: { "conversations":[ { "sender":"", "messages":[ { "text":"", "fromMe":"<True/False>", "type":"<SMS/iMessage>", "received":"" } ] } ] }